Sport

Disabled sport gets £250,000 injection

YORK is to get more clubs for disabled sportsmen and women from a £252,000 cash injection from Sport England.

City of York Council was among the successful bidders for a share of £10.2 million of Lottery money distributed to develop Paralympic sports.

The £252,000, together with £183,000 from council coffers, will support the creation and development of new community disability sports clubs, activities for adults with learning disabilities, work with people wtih mental health conditions including alcohol and drug addiction and provide training and support for community clubs to accommodate people with physical or learning disabilities and those with long term medical condtitions.

Among the sports to benefit will be cricket and tennis for visually impaired people and wheelchair basketball, goalball, football and boccia.

Coun Sonja Crisp, leisure portfolio holder, said: “ It will enable us to build our sporting legacy by further developing the excellent work in sport and physical activity happening with groups in the city.”

“We would encourage anyone who thinks they would benefit from being involved, or anyone who would like further information about this, to get in touch with us today.”

Announcing the successful bids, Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson said: “This funding will go a long way to helping those inspired by the outstanding performances of our Paralympians this summer to get out and try sport for themselves.

“It’s fantastic to see such a wide range of organisations benefitting – all of them focused on helping more disabled people to discover how much sport has to offer.”